How can i get back into WoW

[Dududelsack-aegwynn]

Hello there,
the title might be a bit misleading, same as the category i posted this in, but im not allowed to post in other categories and furthermore missing the words to describe my dilemma properly, but im going to try:

I loved playing WoW back in the days. But since Retail became… idk… Retail, it kinda feels numb to me to play any new expansion. It feels like a race for a few months instead of a steady and meaningful progression that lasts even when the next expansion comes out, how it was back in the days.
So all my progress is kinda worthless with every new expansion, because they want to make it easier for newcomers to get into the game. They dont have to play the expansions before to get on my lvl and such. I’d rather have an end to all that expansions and instead have it like that again. Otherwise my Motivation to play the latest one is very low. Even if we dont mainly talk about gear progression. Why should i farm my transmogs and mounts in the latest expansion, if i could just wait until the next one comes out and have it way easier to farm the stuff of the one before with way higher item lvl earned out of the new one.
And everybody can do that, while starting as a newcomer on the latest expansion. So all my achievements that i actually did while playing that expansion with everybody else, when it came out, basically render useless in terms of having a scale that is the same for everybody.

So i thought about maybe trying out Classic WoW then.
But now i read about this GDKP stuff, which might have been a good method once, but became more or less an inflation mechanic for the game. I dont really get why people need this. People are too greedy and want to play Classic but still rushing it like they play Retail?! Back in the days, when i played real Cata, i have never heard of that or maybe i missed it because i was mainly playing with friends of my school.
I also read, that Blizzard forbid GDKP in Season of Discovery. Did they also forbid that stuff in Classic WoW or is that still a thing in Classic?
How can i play Season of Discovery, if they still do the GDKP stuff in Classic WoW? I cant find it in the Launcher Menue…

I know, many of you might have another Opinion on that, and i want to excuse myself in advance if my Opinion might set you up or if i misunderstood something.
Ill be happy to hear out your perspectives and explanations about this, and maybe getting some good vibes on the game again.

Greetings
Officerholybob

[Gráinne-earthen-ring]

OK, so:

Feeling of Progression

The devs consider the ease of catch-up more important than the satisfaction of progression in Retail.

Yes, they do. And that does leech out your motivation to progress. So that makes Retail unattractive to you.

Would that still be the case if you were with a guild, progressing together through the expansion? Clearly, people on the leading edge can still feel that satisfaction of progress. But yeah, for most of us, progress is now pretty meaningless.

 

GDKP

This is the announcement of forbidding GDKP runs:

GDKP in Season of Discovery

Starting with Phase 2 of Season of Discovery, we are going to experiment with a policy change: We will no longer support or allow GDKP or “gold bid” raids and dungeons in Season of Discovery. We’ve seen many questions about this policy change, so please read on for our answers and more information. What is GDKP and why is it being restricted in Season of Discovery? GDKP is a loot system some players use that essentially allows all loot to be purchased in a dungeon or raid using gold rather tha…

Which clarifies:

Does this policy change affect WoW Classic Era, WoW Classic Hardcore, Wrath of the Lich King Classic, or any other version of World of Warcraft other than Season of Discovery?

• No. At this time, this policy change will only affect WoW Classic: Season of Discovery.

Ofc, we are now in Cata Classic rather than Wrath Classic, but GDKP is still allowed in Cata Classic.

 

Now, I don’t understand your question “How can i play Season of Discovery, if they still do the GDKP stuff in Classic WoW?”

Do you consider GDKP a good thing, or are you saying you wouldn’t play a version with GDKP?

How does allowing GDKP in Cata Classic affect what you feel in SoD? I’m a little confused here.

[Dududelsack-aegwynn]

Hey, thanks for the answer mate! I like how you put that down like “OK, so: …” You are making my mixed up feelings very clear, so we understand each other. Thanks for bothering :>

Also, it feels good, that you can feel me with that progression thingy in retail.
I tried out some Guilds, when i played Legion, but most of them are too fast for me, so i cant keep up with their progression speed within that expansion. When i joined them to do some activities together, they always dragged me by my hair behind them in such a rush, that i couldnt enjoy the most part of that either. And after some time they finished all the stuff they wanted and quit playing until the next expansion. At that point i could call myself “lucky” if i was half way where they were at. But it wasnt too much fun for me also to play like that.
Sometimes i cant spent too much time on gaming, especially not always in these periods, when the new expansions come out.
Dude, im really missing these times, where you came back after a break, and your stuff that you earned before (lvl, items, mounts and now transmogs i guess) wasnt worthless as it is right now, because with the next expansion everybody instantly was above you with that built in lvl boost and starter zone gear way above mine.
It personally always was a good thing for me, to be able to come back whenever i want and still kinda have something in comparison to sbdy who started out fresh at the same time, because all my time i spent in the game before, added up in progression that is never being lost. That also made me feel like never being in a rush if i dont want to. But now i have to play exactly when it comes out, its not adding up spent time which correlates with my progression. Its more that i have to be there for 200% at that time, when the expansion comes out, to be able to “enjoy” the expansion in a rush.
It lost so much of that MMORPG feeling for me, but maybe i missunderstood what lvl’s, items and progression might mean in an MMORPG manner.

Furthermore I appreciate you clarifying that GDKP stuff to me.
And yeah… that was a weird sentence from me. Sry for that.
I meant, that IF they still are allowed to do GDKP in classic, i would rather like to play Season of Discovery but didnt know how to do that, respectively how to start Season of Discovery out of the Launcher. But now i found out, that i had to switch to the Season of Discovery Realm Tab within the Classic WoW.

I dont like what i have read so far about GDKP in classic WoW, but can you confirm that it is really that bad? I mean there is so many mixed views on if its game changing or not. Personally i dont see myself farming gold ingame in that manner that i could compete with people, who buy their gold with real money, but i certainly dont want to buy gold as well.

I have now seen some posts that say, that prices are going up as well, so if you just farm idk, some herbs or sth., you can eventually catch up, because herb prices are going up as everything else does in this “inflation” - so i would just have to farm myself an X amount of gold to play with everybody in these GDKP runs but once im in it, im getting paid out of these GDKP runs as well, so its just that entry level of gold i have to farm?
And how much would that be then? I have read different numbers, probably because these posts were all from a different time and therefore state of the “inflation” it differs from 3k to 15k gold, which i believe is a lot in Classic WoW?

On the other hand i have seen posts, which are talking about that they only want to play that raid or dungeon and dont even care about the loot at all at that point, because its so difficult for them to just get into one of these groups in the first place.

I mean it all depends on where the state of the market respectively the inflation is at right now. And that, i dont know until i get into the game and see it myself i guess. But maybe you can give me a current perspective on this situation and how hard it is to catch up to be able to play endgame content with everybody else?

[Gráinne-earthen-ring]

You haven’t even scratched the surface of the problems with the removal of that feeling of accomplishment we used to get from the game. It’s all the way through, rotting everything from start to finish. You can kill Hogger at Level 1 now. That used to be a rite of passage - to kill Hogger. Now he’s just another mob. Nothing is special. Nothing gives a sense of achievement.

 

Maybe it’s worth thinking about how you could improve on Legion. Maybe find a guild or group that moves more at your pace? It’s hard to find a guild. You want people who play at the same hours, and about the same amount, and at the same speed. Cross-realm guilds, and nowadays Communities and Discords, offer a lot more options - but that doesn’t make the search easy.

 

Glad you found the SoD option!

I have no idea whether GDKP is “that bad”, or what’s going on in Cata Classic. I’m not playing Cata Classic, and if I was, it would just be for the levelling, and for what classes used to feel like.

You could always buy a Token for Cata Classic to get into the GDKP runs. I imagine that’s what most people do. And why the end game isn’t what it used to be.